Three Israeli Civilians Killed in Gaza Rocket Attacks

Victims Members of Chabad Community

Three Israeli civilians were killed at about 9 a.m. Thursday morning after a rocket hit their apartment building in the city of Kiryat Malakhi (Qiryat Malakhi) in Israel’s southern district.

The victims, two men and a woman, were identified as Ahron Smadga, Yitzchak Amselam, and a 25 year old expectant woman, Mirah (nee Cohen) Scharf. An infant and several children were among the wounded who were taken to nearby hospitals. The victims were members of the city’s Chabad community.

Kiryat Malakhi is about 11 miles from Ashkelon, with a population of about 21,000.

According to reports from Israel, from about midnight Wednesday to Thursday morning, some 45 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel, of which Iron Dome intercepted 13. Overall, nearly 200 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel’s South in the 24 hours since the IDF killed Ahmed Jabari, Hamas’s top military commander, as part of a campaign to end the incessant terror in Israel’s coastal region. The campaign was Israel’s most intense response against Gaza in recent years.

The rockets, launched at population centers in Israel’s south, hit Ashdod, Ofakim and Beersheba, prompting school closures in all areas within a 24 mile radius of the Gaza Strip.

Israel's Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will convene with the IDF on Thursday to vote on Defense Minister Ehud Barak's request to call up army reserves.